that s not a career. that was not considered a career! er.yes, but domestic science. 0k. otherwise known as home economics. home economics. right. and the fifth one, which is a bit surprising that early, it was.it was airline stewardess. oh, right, of course. so, which box did were you ticking at that age? well, i was a mercenary little child. the one that made the most money at that time was.. ..was the home economist. ah, right. so, although i was not really very interested, i took that in high school instead of what i should have taken, which was secretarial sciences. i should have taken typing. what was the result? i still cannot touch type. i have to look. are you.are you two fingers? four. ok. was there.was there a moment, though, where you suddenly thought, actually, i need to write? oh, yes. that would be when i was 16. yes, i started writing at that
On a Tuesday morning in August, Benji Webbe’s phone rang as he wandered through the inert surroundings of Membury services, just off the M4 in Berkshire. Skindred’s manager had some news, and the band’s vocalist quietly assumed something bad had happened. In reality, it was .
of the undertones! like every other healthy teenager on the planet, we were more obsessed with more songs about chocolate and girls. exactly. what you sang about was the usual teenage dreams, the longings, the girls, the frustrations with your family, it was.it was the stuff of ordinary life. correct. ..which in a funny sort of way was sort of avoiding the reality of what you were living through. well, it s not, because that was actually allowing us that moment of freedom and that head space and that moment of clarity, because the truth is nobody in northern ireland at the time sat around thinking, oh, this is dreadful, this is terrible. everybody, as best they could, was trying to get on with normal lives. and, in fact, that situation, like all forms of poverty and oppression and difficulty and suffrage, becomes normal. and i ll give you a very simple example. the first time we as the undertones went to new york, i had spent weeks reading articles and national newspapers about the c
so doctors, lawyers, you know, rocket scientists and what have you. and there were five for girls. let s see if you can guess what they were. secretary? yes. nurse? yes. teacher? yes. got it. ok, that s three. that s three. er.| don t know, was it housewife? did that count? that s not a career. that was considered a career. er.yes, but domestic science. 0k. otherwise known as home economics. home economics. right. and the fifth one, which is a bit surprising that early, it was.it was airline stewardess. oh, right, of course. so, which box did were you ticking at that age? well, i was a mercenary little child. the one that made the most money at that time was.. was the home economist. ah, right. so although i was not really very interested, um. i took that in high school instead of what i should have taken, which was secretarial sciences. i should have taken typing.